AROUND 300 parents, carers and children attended a fun-filled celebration of the work of a special charity in Easter Ross.

Home-Start East Highland celebrated its 35th birthday with a get-together in Alness last week attended by people from across ross-shire and the wider Highlands.

Parents coping with issues such as post-natal depression, their or their child’s illness or disability, isolation or multiple births are amongst those helped.

Volunteers, with parenting experience, can visit regularly and offer emotional and practical support to families who need it. The friendly parent-to-parent support is a simple yet effective way of helping families.

Home-Start East Highland provides a service to East, Mid and West Ross, Inverness and Badenoch and Lochaber.

The charity offers practical and emotional support to families when it’s needed most.

The celebration hosted at The Field in Alness was enjoyed by previous and present families supported and professionals who have worked with Home-Start East Highland.

Natalie Shinwari, Home-Start East Highland manager, said afterwards: "The day was an amazing success, lots of laughter and smiles throughout the day. It was great to see so many families come along and have fun."

She said families on the day commented on how good it was to see so many happy kids.Many enjoyed the activities and crafts laid on for the event with one attendee saying: "It was so nice to chat to folk and enjoy the craic."

Parents, carers, children, professional colleagues and staff and volunteers of yesteryear were amongst those at the event.

Asked about the difference Home-Start has made to families, Ms Shinwari said: "We received feedback from families stating that the social aspect of the day was something they were grateful for and that their family really benefited from meeting other children, trying new foods and it was great to get out the house and do something fun that the whole family can attend and enjoy.

"We know the difference Home-Start makes to families because when we meet a family for the first time, often the parent is shy, maybe low in confidence and often anxious of new people and places and they see themselves stuck in a rut and not going to anything like this. So, it really is wonderful when we see the transformation in these families. They take themselves along to our activities and make friends with their peers and we get a WhatsApp or phone call to say what an amazing day their family has had...life-changing!"

Looking back over the years of operation, she said: "With our service growing considerably since 2016 and again in 2021, the number of families being supported each year has more than doubled. Over the past few years, Home-Start East Highland have supported on average 175 families, that’s approximately 300 children each year."

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To find out more about Home-Start east Highland see https://home-starteasthighland.org.uk/

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